PAUL WALL
from awready.com
no date available
Paul Wall "The Champ Speaks"
AWREADY: First off, when is the album dropping?
Paul Wall: It’s coming out this summer, on August 16th.
AW: What is name of the album and why did you name it that?
PW: The Peoples Champ. My homeboy gave me that name just as a nickname just because I was always showing love to everybody. I never stuck my nose up to people I always just kept it real with everybody whether or not you was the boss of the company or you was the one that took out the trash at the end of the day. I always just showed the same love and same respect to everybody.
AW: How do you feel this new album compares to your first solo, the Chick Magnet?
PW: Uh, it’s a lot different. I definitely stepped up my level of lyricism and I’ve learned just different tactics in making good music, just throughout the time. Whether it be delivering in lyrics or whether it be with the different production, coming up with different hooks. I worked with the GRiT Boys a whole lot in the process of making the album they came up with a lot of the hooks, either the GRiT Boys or my boy Yung Redd. They came up with a lot of the different hooks whether they said them or I said them they came up with most of them actually. We really came up with concepts for the music, for the songs. The whole agenda for The Peoples Champ is to represent the Texas culture on a national level and introduce it to the rest of the world, let the rest of the world know what's going on in Texas because they really don’t know. That’s basically the whole agenda of the album. The level of production is top notch; level of lyrics is top notch and its just generally jammin' for real. Actually, the main way it differs is because the features. On the Chick Magnet and on the other albums there weren’t really a lot of features. This album has Lil' Wayne, BG, Bun B, T.I. and Freeway.
AW: Do you remember the first time you heard Michael Watts and Swisha House?
PW: Yeah I remember. It was a tape called Homestead for Life, it’s now referred to as North side 1. It was real hard because I always used to like jammin' the Screw tapes, but being that they were from the Southside at the time when all the plex was going on between the North side and the South side it was really hard to just respectfully jam Screw in my neighborhood so, Michael Watts came along started putting out mix tapes kind of representing for the North side. With the same slowed down sound, even though the sound was different it didn’t sound the same as a Screw tape but the general, shit it was slowed down! Michael Watts added his touch to it, but yeah it was called Homestead for Life now referred to as North side 1. It was just like damn we finally got someone to represent for the North side and from there it was just like I’d represent that jam it on a regular, but now that all the plex is gone I can like listen to Screw tapes the same ones that I listened to on the low back then now I can listen to them with the windows down.
AW: Being on the same label as Mike Jones, do you feel pressured to match? Or surpass his numbers?
PW: Ummm, you know we always want to do better so the way things are going more than likely I probably will do bigger numbers than him and then on his next album he'll probably do bigger numbers than me. We're not in competition though its definitely support for each other. You know I push him just as I push me you know he pushes me just as much as he pushes himself. No, I don’t feel like its pressure, of course we all want to go platinum we all want to go platinum a few times over. As the spotlight comes closer and closer to Houston and as the rest of the country gets more up on what we got going on you know the success of what Swisha House is doing just getting bigger and bigger so just naturally over time our sales are going to increase but in the end I hope we all do good. I know he hopes we all do good and the same for Slim Thug.
AW: You've probably been asked this a million times, but we've got to get the truth behind the rumors. A lot of comments have been made since the whole issue with Chamillionaire became public, him taking offense to things you say in your raps or interviews, what’s the deal on that? Are you still cool with anyone from the old click?
PW: Yeah Lew Hawk is my partner. Matter fact, the other day was Lew Hawk's birthday, that’s my dog. I'm still down with Twin that’s my partner. Other then that, if you got a problem with me tell me, if I got a problem with him I’ll tell him. He's just somebody in my past, that’s all.
AW: What producers did work on the Peoples Champ album?
PW: The Grid Iron. Pretty Todd my boy Calvin Earl. As well as Salih of Carnival Beats. He did Still Tippin', Sittin' Sideways, Back Then, he did a lot of the Wreck Shop hits. The Grid Iron did the majority of the production on the album I put out previous to this one. I had opportunities to work with a lot of major producers but on this album I really wanted to just introduce the culture to the rest of the world that I feel like it would be best represent by the Grid Iron and by Salih being that they're kind of in house, but not solely in house but were on a team together. I wanted to represent for them and they really understand and respect more of what my agenda is and their behind it 100%. Being that they are from Texas they understand it a little bit better. Other than that I got KLC from Beats by the Pound and Medicine man he did a beat. 3-6 Mafia made a beat Juicy J and DJ Paul, Sanchez who has done a lot of production for T.I.
AW: The Sittin' Sideways single is blowing up on radio stations across the nation, and the video is about to drop. Who directed this video?
PW: Directed by Dr. Teeth aka. John Tucker. He did the Still Tippin', Back Then he'll probably direct a lot of the videos that we do if not all of them. He's another person who really understands the culture being that he'd from Houston. He understands the desire for us to introduce it to the rest of the world being that he's so creative and he knows how to work the camera and direct the videos real good we feel like he will introduce that to the world.
AW: You recorded a group video for Still Tippin' along with Mike Jones and Slim Thug, how was recording your own video different from that?
PW: It was a lot different because a lot more of the attention was on me, even still I had two verses as oppose to all three Big Pokey had the third verse. Most of the attention was on me I had more creative control of who gets in the video or what girls get in the video, what cars would be used things like that. It was kind of like I had a lot more of the decision-making process, but even still I didn’t abuse that. Only thing I wanted was my home girl Danielle who was dancing in front of me in the video, I wanted to make sure she got in the video and it was a few other people I wanted to make sure got in the video but other than that its like man I’m not the director I'm the artist the artist of the video. I want John Tucker to direct it, that’s why we hired him. So I just let him do his thing and whatever he saw.
AW: For hungry producers out there how would they go about getting some of their beats to Paul Wall?
PW: Man they've got to have a CD in their hand and they might have to get me 10 cd's before I even listen to it. I get so many cd's everywhere I go. Really, if they want to get some beats to me the most important and most effective way of getting that done is giving that beat CD to T Farris. He picks the majority if not all of the hits for not only me but also Mike Jones and the Swisha House. The beats we always rap on, he picks them. He's got a real good ear for music he comes up with the concepts for a lot of the songs. He'll be like "you know what, you need to rap on this beat that way or you need to jump on that beat this way." We'll go in there and write it but it'll be his idea, like this Still Tippin' he picked the beat for that and he made it happen. So yeah man, just get that shit to T Farris.
from awready.com
no date available
Paul Wall "The Champ Speaks"
AWREADY: First off, when is the album dropping?
Paul Wall: It’s coming out this summer, on August 16th.
AW: What is name of the album and why did you name it that?
PW: The Peoples Champ. My homeboy gave me that name just as a nickname just because I was always showing love to everybody. I never stuck my nose up to people I always just kept it real with everybody whether or not you was the boss of the company or you was the one that took out the trash at the end of the day. I always just showed the same love and same respect to everybody.
AW: How do you feel this new album compares to your first solo, the Chick Magnet?
PW: Uh, it’s a lot different. I definitely stepped up my level of lyricism and I’ve learned just different tactics in making good music, just throughout the time. Whether it be delivering in lyrics or whether it be with the different production, coming up with different hooks. I worked with the GRiT Boys a whole lot in the process of making the album they came up with a lot of the hooks, either the GRiT Boys or my boy Yung Redd. They came up with a lot of the different hooks whether they said them or I said them they came up with most of them actually. We really came up with concepts for the music, for the songs. The whole agenda for The Peoples Champ is to represent the Texas culture on a national level and introduce it to the rest of the world, let the rest of the world know what's going on in Texas because they really don’t know. That’s basically the whole agenda of the album. The level of production is top notch; level of lyrics is top notch and its just generally jammin' for real. Actually, the main way it differs is because the features. On the Chick Magnet and on the other albums there weren’t really a lot of features. This album has Lil' Wayne, BG, Bun B, T.I. and Freeway.
AW: Do you remember the first time you heard Michael Watts and Swisha House?
PW: Yeah I remember. It was a tape called Homestead for Life, it’s now referred to as North side 1. It was real hard because I always used to like jammin' the Screw tapes, but being that they were from the Southside at the time when all the plex was going on between the North side and the South side it was really hard to just respectfully jam Screw in my neighborhood so, Michael Watts came along started putting out mix tapes kind of representing for the North side. With the same slowed down sound, even though the sound was different it didn’t sound the same as a Screw tape but the general, shit it was slowed down! Michael Watts added his touch to it, but yeah it was called Homestead for Life now referred to as North side 1. It was just like damn we finally got someone to represent for the North side and from there it was just like I’d represent that jam it on a regular, but now that all the plex is gone I can like listen to Screw tapes the same ones that I listened to on the low back then now I can listen to them with the windows down.
AW: Being on the same label as Mike Jones, do you feel pressured to match? Or surpass his numbers?
PW: Ummm, you know we always want to do better so the way things are going more than likely I probably will do bigger numbers than him and then on his next album he'll probably do bigger numbers than me. We're not in competition though its definitely support for each other. You know I push him just as I push me you know he pushes me just as much as he pushes himself. No, I don’t feel like its pressure, of course we all want to go platinum we all want to go platinum a few times over. As the spotlight comes closer and closer to Houston and as the rest of the country gets more up on what we got going on you know the success of what Swisha House is doing just getting bigger and bigger so just naturally over time our sales are going to increase but in the end I hope we all do good. I know he hopes we all do good and the same for Slim Thug.
AW: You've probably been asked this a million times, but we've got to get the truth behind the rumors. A lot of comments have been made since the whole issue with Chamillionaire became public, him taking offense to things you say in your raps or interviews, what’s the deal on that? Are you still cool with anyone from the old click?
PW: Yeah Lew Hawk is my partner. Matter fact, the other day was Lew Hawk's birthday, that’s my dog. I'm still down with Twin that’s my partner. Other then that, if you got a problem with me tell me, if I got a problem with him I’ll tell him. He's just somebody in my past, that’s all.
AW: What producers did work on the Peoples Champ album?
PW: The Grid Iron. Pretty Todd my boy Calvin Earl. As well as Salih of Carnival Beats. He did Still Tippin', Sittin' Sideways, Back Then, he did a lot of the Wreck Shop hits. The Grid Iron did the majority of the production on the album I put out previous to this one. I had opportunities to work with a lot of major producers but on this album I really wanted to just introduce the culture to the rest of the world that I feel like it would be best represent by the Grid Iron and by Salih being that they're kind of in house, but not solely in house but were on a team together. I wanted to represent for them and they really understand and respect more of what my agenda is and their behind it 100%. Being that they are from Texas they understand it a little bit better. Other than that I got KLC from Beats by the Pound and Medicine man he did a beat. 3-6 Mafia made a beat Juicy J and DJ Paul, Sanchez who has done a lot of production for T.I.
AW: The Sittin' Sideways single is blowing up on radio stations across the nation, and the video is about to drop. Who directed this video?
PW: Directed by Dr. Teeth aka. John Tucker. He did the Still Tippin', Back Then he'll probably direct a lot of the videos that we do if not all of them. He's another person who really understands the culture being that he'd from Houston. He understands the desire for us to introduce it to the rest of the world being that he's so creative and he knows how to work the camera and direct the videos real good we feel like he will introduce that to the world.
AW: You recorded a group video for Still Tippin' along with Mike Jones and Slim Thug, how was recording your own video different from that?
PW: It was a lot different because a lot more of the attention was on me, even still I had two verses as oppose to all three Big Pokey had the third verse. Most of the attention was on me I had more creative control of who gets in the video or what girls get in the video, what cars would be used things like that. It was kind of like I had a lot more of the decision-making process, but even still I didn’t abuse that. Only thing I wanted was my home girl Danielle who was dancing in front of me in the video, I wanted to make sure she got in the video and it was a few other people I wanted to make sure got in the video but other than that its like man I’m not the director I'm the artist the artist of the video. I want John Tucker to direct it, that’s why we hired him. So I just let him do his thing and whatever he saw.
AW: For hungry producers out there how would they go about getting some of their beats to Paul Wall?
PW: Man they've got to have a CD in their hand and they might have to get me 10 cd's before I even listen to it. I get so many cd's everywhere I go. Really, if they want to get some beats to me the most important and most effective way of getting that done is giving that beat CD to T Farris. He picks the majority if not all of the hits for not only me but also Mike Jones and the Swisha House. The beats we always rap on, he picks them. He's got a real good ear for music he comes up with the concepts for a lot of the songs. He'll be like "you know what, you need to rap on this beat that way or you need to jump on that beat this way." We'll go in there and write it but it'll be his idea, like this Still Tippin' he picked the beat for that and he made it happen. So yeah man, just get that shit to T Farris.
